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Philip Wolfhagen

Title

Thirteenth journey

Medium

oil and beeswax on linen

Dimensions

200 x 160 cm

Further information

Thirteenth journey is a tribute to the 17th-century French painter Claude Lorrain. All landscape painters pay homage to Claude at some point.

There is a very good example to be found at the Gallery in the small room off the James Fairfax Galleries, in a lovingly painted copy of a Claude: Landscape with goatherd and goats, after Claude 1823, by John Constable (another of my heroes).

Although clearly my painting is not a copy, I am interested in Claude’s use of dark masses of foreground foliage – rather like a stage set – and the luminosity of his light. In my painting the foliage on the right belongs to our native Allocasuarina, opposed by the white skeletons of dead eucalyptus.